Fall Conference - As summer begins to come to a close, it is time to register for the WYRID Fall Conference. It will be held in Douglas, September 17th and 18th. Our presenter will be Valentino Vasquez, an instructor for undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Northern Colorado-Greeley. The topics to be presented are "Developing Technical Signs", "Use of PSE Structure", "Tutoring Techniques" and "Can You Hear Me". The entire presentation will be in sign language and will be great receptive building experience. It will be a great conference! Come join us.

Awesome Job- all of you who took the EIPA in Wyoming in August must be complimented! I am told that so many people signed up that they had to start turning people away. That is excellent! There will be more opportunities to take the EIPA in Wyoming in the future. We will try to keep you informed of the locations and times. We will encourage every educational interpreter in Wyoming to take this evaluation. RID is currently reseraching the possibility of recognizing this evaluation nationally for educational interpreter certification. Great things could come out of that. Again, to those who took the EIPA recently, Awesome Job!

Thank you- I would like to thank the WYRID board for all the hard work they have done the past two years, You have put in a lot of time and effort to run this organization. Thank you, Paula, Kathy, Connie, Dawn and Angela.

Time to Vote - we will be voting for the next WYRID board at the business meeting September 17th. Please come, cast your vote and make your voice heard. A list of the nominations is printed in this newsletter for your review.

Continue to take steps forward - it has been my honor and privilege to have served as the WYRID president for the past two years. The experiences of the past years has been very educational and beneficial for me and I hope it has been for you as well. My goal has been to inspire us to be lifelong learners. I quote from my first letter to you.

"Often when we look back at all we have learned and how far we have come, we feel proud of our accomplishments, as we should. HOwever, we must guard ourselves against the temptation to be satisfied with our success and feel that our skill is now sufficient. We must continue to learn, develop and improve our interpreting. We must strive to make our interpretation consistently more accurate. In doing this, our success must not be measured by how far we have come, but how far there is left to go. In the field of interpreting there is always a far distance left to travel. There is so much to learn that it requires a lifetime...Let's all strive for excellence and take steps forward!"

As my term comes to an end, I am not only leaving as the president of WYRID, but I am also leaving the state of Wyoming. My family will be moving to Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. We will leave shortly after the Fall Conference. To those of you who I will not see before I leave, I would like to say "Good Bye, God Bless, and Go Forward".

Jennifer Shearer CT/CI

WYRID President